Manuela Myriam Henri Ramin-Osmundsen (born 15 July 1963 in

Antony, France Antony () is a Communes of France, commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France, from the Kilometre Zero, centre of Paris. Antony is a subprefecture of the Hauts-de-Seine Departments of France, department and the seat of the arrondissement o ...

) is a French-Norwegian

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

and former Minister of Children and Equality from the Labour Party. In 2008 she was the focus of a political scandal that ended with the forced resignation from her newly appointed minister position.

Early life and education

She is born in Antony, then in the

Seine department Seine is a former department of France, which encompassed Paris and its immediate suburbs. It was the only enclaved department of France, being surrounded entirely by the former Seine-et-Oise department. Its prefecture was Paris and its INSEE n ...

of France, in a family coming from the

overseas department The overseas departments and regions of France (, ; DROM) are the five departments and regions of the French Republic which are located outside European France (also known as " metropolitan France"). These overseas entities have exactly the s ...

Martinique Martinique ( ; or ; Kalinago language, Kalinago: or ) is an island in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the eastern Caribbean Sea. It was previously known as Iguanacaera which translates to iguana island in Carib language, Kariʼn ...

. Her mother, Annie Ramin, is a former director of the

Fort-de-France Fort-de-France (, , ; ) is a Communes of France, commune and the capital city of Martinique, an overseas department and region of France located in the Caribbean. History Before it was ceded to France by Spain in 1635, the area of Fort-de-Fra ...

regional university hospital (

CHU Chu or CHU may refer to: Chinese history * Chu (state) (c. 1030 BC–223 BC), a state during the Zhou dynasty * Western Chu (206 BC–202 BC), a state founded and ruled by Xiang Yu * Chu Kingdom (Han dynasty) (201 BC–70 AD), a kingdom of the H ...

). She lived in France until 1991, after which she finally settled in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

with her Norwegian husband. She received a law-degree from the Panthéon-Assas University specializing in

European Union law European Union law is a system of Supranational union, supranational Law, laws operating within the 27 member states of the European Union (EU). It has grown over time since the 1952 founding of the European Coal and Steel Community, to promote ...

and is a

lawyer A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...

of the Paris

Bar association A bar association is a professional association of lawyers as generally organized in countries following the Anglo-American types of jurisprudence.

. She later received a degree in

Special Education Special education (also known as special-needs education, aided education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, and SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates their individual di ...

from the

Oslo University College Oslo University College (; HiO) was the largest state university college in Norway from 1994 to 2011, with more than 18,000 students and approximately 1800 employees.

Political career

In 1995 she was employed as a lawyer for the

Ministry of Justice and the Police The Royal Ministry of Justice and Public Security () is a Norwegian government ministry that oversees justice, the police, and domestic intelligence. The main purpose of the ministry is to provide for the maintenance and development of the basic ...

, this lasted until 1998 when she became the head of the official (SMED), a governmental agency which was to provide free legal-aid to people who were discriminated against. After which she returned to work for the Justice department before switching to work as a political aide in the

Ministry of Foreign affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...

. In the autumn of 2005 she joined the Labour Party. She was the director of the (UID) between 17 March and 21 May 2006. She was appointed as Minister of Children and Equality Affairs in the

second cabinet Stoltenberg Stoltenberg's Second Cabinet was the Government of Norway from 17 October 2005 to 16 October 2013. It was a coalition government, coalition between the Labour Party (Norway), Labour Party, the Socialist Left Party (Norway), Socialist Left Party a ...

on 18 October 2007, replacing outgoing minister

Karita Bekkemellem Karita Bekkemellem (born 15 January 1965 in Lillehammer) is a Norwegian politician. She belongs to the Norwegian Labour Party, where she leads the women's network. Bekkemellem was the Minister of Children and Families in Jens Stoltenberg's sh ...

and thus becoming the first ever

non-white The term "person of color" (: people of color or persons of color; abbreviated POC) is used to describe any person who is not considered "white". In its current meaning, the term originated in, and is associated with, the United States. From th ...

member of the Norwegian Cabinet.Children's minister quits under fire
Aftenposten, 14 February 2008

The "Ombudsman-affair"

Only four months into her new position she was forced to resign due to the controversy surrounding the appointment of the new Ombudsman for Children in Norway. The incumbent,

Reidar Hjermann Reidar Kvaal Hjermann (born 17 February 1969) is a Norwegian psychologist and former Children's Ombudsman of Norway. The son of Ingvar Hjermann, Reidar started working as a psychologist in 1998. In 2004 he was appointed Ombudsman for Children in ...

was expecting to be appointed to a new four-year term as was customary for all ombudsmen at the time. However Ramin-Osmundsen decided to instead award the position to the lawyer

Ida Hjort Kraby Ida Hjort Kraby (born 2 September 1960) is a Norwegian jurist. The daughter of Pål Kraby, Ida Hjort Kraby graduated from the University of Oslo as cand.jur. in 1988. She had worked as a research assistant there from 1986 to 1987 and was hired as ...

. Speculations soon arose regarding if this was due to Hjermann being too bothersome for the government (he had publicly criticized the government at numerous occasions). As this story was dying down, a new one erupted when the media discovered that Hjort Kraby and Ramin-Osmundsen were very close friends and had known each other since law-school, and regularly attending each other's parties. This was in clear violation of government rules, as she was required to recuse herself from the appointment process, when dealing with close relations. After these stories emerged, the

Storting The Storting ( ; ) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The Unicameralism, unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years based on party-list propo ...

opened a formal inquiry into the matter. Although she initially denied these reports, when confronted with further details she later acknowledged that they were indeed close friends and belonged to the same very small

clique A clique (AusE, CanE, or ; ), in the social sciences, is a small group of individuals who interact with one another and share similar interests rather than include others. Interacting with cliques is part of normative social development regardles ...

of female lawyers living in Oslo's affluent west end. After prime minister

Jens Stoltenberg Jens Stoltenberg (; born 16 March 1959) is a Norwegian politician from the Labour Party. Since 2025, he has been the Minister of Finance in the Støre Cabinet. He has previously been the prime minister of Norway and secretary general of NATO. ...

reminded her of the severity of the situation, she resigned as minister on 14 February. Hjort Kraby resigned from her position before even commencing and Hjermann continued as ombudsman.

Personal life

Born a French citizen, Ramin-Osmundsen came to Norway in 1991 and became a Norwegian citizen early October 2007, 14 days before being appointed as minister. She is married to the former Conservative Party politician and businessman .

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ramin-Osmundsen, Manuela 1963 births People from Antony, Hauts-de-Seine Living people Paris 2 Panthéon-Assas University alumni Oslo University College alumni Ministers of children, equality and social inclusion of Norway Labour Party (Norway) politicians French emigrants to Norway Norwegian women lawyers Women government ministers of Norway 21st-century Norwegian women politicians 21st-century Norwegian politicians Martiniquais lawyers Martiniquais politicians